The commander of the 617th Squadron of the Royal Air Force Guy Penrose Gibson (G.P. Gibson) reads a book sitting in the grass at the airfield during the rest between combat sorties.
On the night of May 17, 1943, 19 Lancaster four-engine bombers from the 617th Royal Air Force squadron led by the squadron commander 25-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Guy Gibson conducted Operation Chastise – three groups attacked dams on the Ruhr and Eder rivers in Germany. Special bombs designed by Barnes Walls, they were able to destroy two dams, as a result of which the valleys of these rivers, where many military factories of the Third Reich were located, were flooded with water, power generation in the Ruhr decreased several times. To restore the dams, the Germans were forced to remove more than 20,000 people from the construction of the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. Destroyed dams were restored only in the fall.
The German anti-aircraft artillery shot down eight aircraft, out of 56 people who were part of their crews, only two survived. After this operation, the 617th Royal Air Force squadron was named Dambbusters. The commander of the RAF 617th Squadron Guy Gibson was awarded the highest military award in Britain – the Victoria Cross. He died next year at the age of 26.
Source of Guy Gibson photo information:
Location: United Kingdom
Picture Time: July 22, 1943